Overspeed trainers are used by athletes to improve their quickness and strength. Exemplar overspeed trainers can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,951,443 to Askins, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,803,881 to Miller, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
Despite the benefits offered by these known overspeed trainers, they have several drawbacks. For example, the person holding the tether must use both hands to activate their release mechanisms. Also, these known release mechanisms usually are quite noisy and frequently force the athlete to retain a “tail” portion of the tether. Such a tail is undesirable because it can catch on items or become entangled in the athlete's legs during training.